Shri Saraswati Puja

Apart from the poojas performed for navagraha, Vedas mention many other powerful poojas which are performed in order to get blessings from a particular God or a pair of God and Goddess like Shiv Parvati and Saraswati Narayan. A large number of such poojas are performed for different gods and goddesses depending upon what kind of result is required by the native and sometimes some natives get some of these poojas performed just in order to connect more closely and strongly to their Isht Devta like if someone is a devotee of Lord Shiva, he may get a Shiv Pooja performed without any materialistic wishes and just to get closer to Lord Shiva. Some pandits believe that most of such poojas should be performed at religious places like Trayambakeshwar temple of Lord Shiva in Nasik, Ujjain, Haridwar, Gayaji or Badrinath dham but these poojas can bless the native with their good results even if they are performed in the nearby temple of your town and the most important thing for these poojas to be effective is the procedure or vidhi of these poojas. The vidhi or procedure for most of these Vedic poojas is similar with some changes like the Mantra which is chanted during a pooja, the day of start and completion of a pooja, Havan samagri to be used during the completion day, things to be donated on the day of completion of a pooja and some other things may be different in case of different poojas. In today’s article we will discuss the procedure for conducting a Vedic Shri Saraswati Puja in order to get specific good results from this pooja and from goddess Saraswati.

Shri Saraswati Pooja is performed with a specific count of chant or jaap of Shri Saraswati Mantra which is the mantra of goddess Saraswati and this mantra connects the native to goddess Saraswati. Shri Saraswati Puja is generally performed for knowledge, skill in some kind of art, recognition through knowledge or skill and other such things. Shri Saraswati Puja is generally started on a Wednesday and it is generally completed on the following Wednesday where the day of start of a Shri Saraswati Pooja can sometimes change depending upon the time which is required by the Pandits doing this pooja to complete the chant of Shri Saraswati Mantra. Generally the Pandits are able to complete this chant or Jaap of Shri Saraswati Mantra in 7 days and hence this pooja is generally started on a Wednesday and it is completed on the following Wednesday and all the necessary steps for this pooja are conducted during this time which is Wednesday to Wednesday. Shri Saraswati Puja vidhi or procedure may include many different steps at many stages and it is not possible to mention all of these steps here but we will cover most of the important steps for this pooja.

The most important step in performing any puja is to perform the chant of a Mantra specified for that pooja and this chant or jaap amounts to a number of 125,000 in most of the cases and accordingly a Shri Saraswati Puja should ideally include a chant of 125,000 Shri Saraswati Mantras and rest of the procedure is built around this chant. To start with Shri Saraswati Puja, a specific day is chosen for the start and completion of this puja both of which are Wednesdays in most of the cases. At the day of starting of this puja, a Sankalpam or resolution is taken by the Pandits which are usually 5 to 7 in number. In this Sankalpam, the head Pandit or the main Pandit takes an oath in front of Lord Shiva that he and his other assistant Pandits are going to perform a chant of 125,000 Shri Saraswati Mantras for a specific person who is the native and whose name, his father’s name and his family surname is also mentioned in Sankalpam. The names of the Pandits doing this chant are also mentioned, the days taken to complete this chant are also mentioned which are generally 7 to 10 days and the specific wishes required by the native as a result of this puja are also mentioned and this is the first step which starts a Vedic Shri Saraswati Puja. The specific wishes asked during the sankalp of this pooja may be blessings in the form of knowledge, some creative art or skill and other such things.

After this, all the Pandits start chanting Shri Saraswati Mantra on daily basis for about 8 to 10 hours a day and in such a way that they are able to complete the total chant of 125,000 mantras till the decided day of completion of this puja. The pundits keep on chanting the Shri Saraswati Mantra on daily basis till the day of the completion and they complete the committed chant of mantras on that day. After completion of chant of Shri Saraswati Mantra, the completion ceremony is arranged for the puja which can take about 2-3 hours if done with proper procedure. A puja for lord Shiva, goddess Parvati, goddesss Saraswati, Lord Ganesha and other members of Shiva family is performed first and many kinds of offerings like flowers, fruits, bhang, dhatura, bel patra, vermillion, bangles, red clothes and cosmetics for the goddesses, sweets, halwa, dhoop, Deepak, milk, curd, honey, desi ghee, sugar and many other things are offered to these gods and goddesses and the completion of the resolution or Sankalpam taken by the pandits is repeated and it is conveyed to the gods by pandits that they have completed the chant of 125,000 Shri Saraswati Mantra in the time promised by them and in the manner promised by them at the day of start of this pooja and it is also mentioned that all this chant and puja has been done on behalf of their client whose name and other details are again mentioned and it is then preyed that their client should be blessed with the good results of this Shri Saraswati Puja since he has followed all the procedures for this puja and he has got this puja performed through pandits in order to get benefic results from Shri Saraswati Pooja. It should be noted here that this puja performed at the day of completion of Shri Saraswati Puja follows specific procedures and accordingly this puja and procedure can differ for different kind of Vedic Poojas.

Things related to and the things signifying navagraha or some specific planets among navagraha are also offered and donated during the course of this final puja ceremony for Shri Saraswati Puja and these things may include, rice, wheat, sugar, salt, oil, milk, blanket, copper utensils, pulses, lentils, white and black moles and some other things each of which relate to one or the other planet among navagraha. After completion of this puja, the blessings are taken from the gods and goddesses and then the final ceremony of Havan is started which is the final and a very important ceremony as this is a ceremony through which a direct connection between the native and the corresponding planets or gods is established with the help of pandits and through the holy fire of havana. Havan is a very important and technical procedure and it should be done by expert pandits with great attention and care. After lighting the holy fire of havna, after starting the Havana and after doing the necessary formalities, the chant of Shri Saraswati Mantra is again started and this time with the completion of each mantra, a sound of Swaaha or Swaha is chanted by the pandits and upon the chant of this sound of Swaha or Swaaha, certain specific things which form the constituents of Puja Samagri and which can vary from puja to puja are offered in a specific way to the holy fire which has been lit to perform the Havana for Shri Saraswati Pooja.

This process is repeated again and again and each time the pandits chant the sound of Swaaha or Swaha or Swaham after completing one chant of Shri Saraswati Mantra, puja samagri is offered to the holy fire of Havana in a specific way. Once the specific chant or Jaap of Shri Saraswati Mantra fixed for the Havana is completed, some other important mantras are chanted which may differ from puja to puja and here again the puja samagri is offered to the holy fire of Havana at the sound of Swaha or Swaaha at the completion of each mantra. A dry coconut is finally cut and filled with certain specific things which may again be different for different pujas and this coconut is then placed in the holy fire of Havana as the final offering and with the chant of some specific mantras, and the desired result is again preyed by the pandits on behalf of the native. The client or the native is then asked to complete 1, 3 or 7 circles around the Havana kund where each one of these circular movement is called a Pradakshina or a Parikarama and upon the completion of this Parikarma the Shri Saraswati Puja is completed. And though a Shri Saraswati Puja includes some other steps and procedures than the ones mentioned above, but the above mentioned steps are the most important steps of a Shri Saraswati Pooja and they should be done and executed by expert and established pandits. Missing some of the important procedures or not doing them properly can reduce the desired effects of the puja and the native may not get the proper benefic effect from his Shri Saraswati Puja.

There are some precautions which should be observed by the native during the running time of his Shri Saraswati Pooja otherwise he may not get proper results from such Shri Saraswati Puja. From the time of start of a Shri Saraswati Puja till the time of completion of this pooja, the native for whom this pooja is being performed should abstain from eating non vegetarian food of all kind including fish and egg, he should stay away from liquors and alcohols of all kinds and he should also stay away from smoking for all this time. Apart from this the native should also not make sexual contacts with any female including his own wife and in case of unmarried natives they should stay away from their girlfriends as long as the Shri Saraswati Puja is going on. The native should also not engage in any kinds of bad conducts of violence, hatred or any other kinds of conducts which are considered immoral during the running time of Shri Saraswati Puja. The native should try to connect himself to Shri Saraswati Pooja on daily basis which he can do by praying to goddess Saraswati daily after taking bath and repeating the Sankalpam that the main Pandit had made on his behalf at the start of this pooja. The native should address goddess Saraswati and say with his words or with his mind that he is getting a Shri Saraswati Pooja performed with a chant of 125,000 Mantras of goddess Saraswati and this pooja is being performed at such and such place by a specific number of Pandits and that he is following all the procedures and precautions with complete dedication and devotion and that goddess Saraswati should bless him with the best possible results for this pooja.

It should be noted here that a Shri Saraswati Puja can be done in the presence of the native as well as in the absence of the native and in case the native is unable to be personally present at the place of Shri Saraswati Puja, this pooja is conducted with the help of native’s photograph or Picture in which the native should be alone and no one else should be present in the picture and this picture should be as recent as possible. In this case, the main Pandit will take the sankalp for Shri Saraswati Pooja on behalf of the native in the presence of his photograph or picture. The name of native’s father and the surname of his family is spoken in the sankalpam and it is also mentioned by the main Pandit that this native is unable to attend to this pooja by means of his personal presence and hence a specific Pandit whose name and surname is mentioned, will be performing all the rituals to be performed by the native on behalf of the native. It should be noted here that this Pandit is one of the Pandits who are going to do a chant of 125,000 Shri Saraswati Mantra for the native. This way the rituals to be performed by the native at the starting day and completion day of Shri Saraswati Puja are performed by the chosen Pandit and it is conveyed by him on both of these days that he is performing these rituals on behalf of the native whose photograph is always kept present during the puja and it is used as a symbol of the native. For example, if the chosen Pandit is supposed to offer flower to Lord Shiva, he will first touch his hand carrying the flowers with the picture of the native and then he will offer those flowers to Lord Shiva and all other rituals are also performed likewise. It is important to note here that even if the native is personally not present for his Shri Saraswati Puja, he is strictly supposed to practice all the necessary and above mentioned precautions for his Shri Saraswati Puja, in whichever part of the world he may be present during the running time of such Shri Saraswati Pooja. The native should also keep on repeating his Sankalpam for Shri Saraswati Puja on daily basis as mentioned above and he should ask for the best results of this pooja from goddess Saraswati.

Completing a Vedic Shri Saraswati Pooja with a chant of 125,000 Veda mantras of goddess Saraswati and doing it with due procedure, dedication and devotion can definitely bring good results for the native whereas missing important steps of puja or altering the Shri Saraswati Pooja vidhi or procedure in an improper way may reduce the benefic results of such Shri Saraswati Puja from some extent to great extent.

Note : The Pooja procedure described above is indicative and there may be some changes in the procedure of this pooja across various geogrophical regions of India, due to difference in local customs and beliefs. Changes like starting day of a Pooja, the number of Pandits performing the Pooja and the number of hours for which a mantra is chanted by the Pandits on daily basis may be observed from Pooja to Pooja and from region to region and these changes should be accepted according to the advice of the Pandits doing your Pooja.

ByHimanshu Shangari

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